Spark plug



June 12, 1923.

J. J. WISNIOWSKI SPARK PLUG Filed Sept. 23, 1920 WITJQESS:

INVEN TOR.

6 M a\ m I ATTORNEY.

85 through sai Patented June 12, 1923.

PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH J. WISNIOWSKI, 01' CHICOPEE, MASSACHUSETTS.

SPARK PLUG.

Application filed September 23, 1820. Serial No. 412,292.

To all whom it may concem:

Be it known that I, Josnrn J. WISNIOW- SKI, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Chicopee, in the county 6 of Hampden and State of Massachusetts,

have invented a new and useful Sfplark Plug,

.of which the following is a speci cation.

M invention relates to improvements in spark-plugs for internal-combustion engines,

10 and consists of or resides generally in the special or peculiar construction of the device as a whole, and the spark-gap-forming elements at the top and bottom-of said device, all as hereinafter set forth.

The primary object of my invention is to provide a s ark-plug, of the class described above, wit means for intensifying the spark, to the end that the efliciency ofthe engine equipped with this spark-plug is materially enhanced or increased.

Another object is to ovide a visible but enclosed, variable spark-gap at the top of the spark-plug, the utility and advantage of which will be well understood by those skilled in the art.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the course of the following description.

I attain the objects and secure the advan tages of my invention by the means illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in

which- Fi' ure 1 is a side elevation of a spark-plug which embodies a practical form of my invention; Fi 2, a central, vertical section spark-plug; Fig. 3, a transverse section through the same, taken on lines 3- -3, looking down, in Fig. -2, and, Fig. 4, a bottom plan of the spark-plug.

Similar reference characters designate 4 similar parts throughout the several views.

A wire 20 is shown connected with the spark-plugin the first view, but is omitted from Fig. 2.

This spark-plug comprises a shell 1 which has the customary screw-threaded base for engagement with the engine, an insulator (usually of porcelain) in said shell and projecting above the top of the same, a nut 4 1n threaded engagement with the upper terminal of the shell and adapted to hold said insulator securely in place therein, a divided central electrode which comprises members 5 and 6, upper and under binding nuts 7 and 8, respectively, a transparent hollow cylinder or short length of tube 9, a bushing 16, 8. ca 10, a ground electrode 11, and a plura ity of spark-gap-forming members or ump-spark conductors 12. The shell 1, in-

sulator 2, and nut 4 may be constructed in any suitable manner to enable them to be assembled and securely fastened together with the aid of said nut. These three members in their general aspect may not difl'er materially from similar members in other types or kinds of spark-plugs.

The ground electrode 11 is preferably integral with the shell 1, being merely an areaate extension from said shell on the bottom thereof. This electrode preferably has some appreciable length, so'that less care need be exercised, when the parts are assembled, in order properly to locate or position the j umpspark conductor 12, which is adjacent thereto and directly associated therewith, relative to the electrode, than would be necessary if the latterv were short. Furthermore, the longer electrode permits of some turning movement of the insulator 2 on its axis without thereby seriously afi'ecting or interfering with the eflicient operation of the spark-plug. In short, the long electrode affords a wider rangeof adjustment, which makes it easier to assemble the parts of the spark-plug, and insures the proper relationship of the associated members in question.

In the upper terminal portion of the insulator 2 is a plurality of radial passages 13, which passages extend from the axial cen-' ter of said insulator to and through the outside thereof, there being four such passages in the present case. The passages 13 are equi-distant apart at their outer ends and come together at their inner ends. The cylinder 9, which is preferably made of glass and may be termed a Window, is received in an annular passage or recess in the insulator 2. The annular recess for the cylinder or window 9 opens through the top of the insulator 2. Said cylinder or window encloses the inner portions of the passages 13, being long enough to extend below the bottoms of said passages. common to the passages 13 in the insulator 2 can be seen through any of said passages and through the window 9.

The central electrode member 5 is arran ed at an angle to the longitudinal axis of t e insulator 2, and extends downwardly The central space below the bottom of said insulator, and upwardly nearly to the intersection of the axes of the passages 13. Said member has an intermedlate projection 14 to prevent the same from becoming displaced in any direction in the insulator 2, and also has at the upper terminal a flange or flanged head 15 to assist in retaining the member in place in said insulator. The member 5 is moulded in the insulator 2, so also is the bushing 16. The bushing 16 is in the insulator 2 above the passages 13, having the same axis as said insulator, and said bushing is internally screw-threaded to receive the electrode member 6, which latter is exteriorly screwthreaded. The member 6, extends down through the center of the cap 10 and the top of the insulator 2 to and through the bushin 16, the inner end of said member being t hus located in the same space with the top of the member 5, but should be out of contact with such top so as to form a spark-gap between the two in such space. The spark-gap thus formed is visible through any passage 13, and may be 1n creased or decreased by screwing the member 6 up or down accordingly. The member 6 has a knurled head 17 at the upper end to facilitate the act of adjusting said member.

It will have been observed that the cap 10 fits on over the top of the insulator 2, covering the upper edge of the cylindrical window 9. The nuts 7 and 8 are on the member 6, the latter being used to lock said member after adjustment, and to retain or assist in retaining the cap 10 in place, and the former being used to bind the wire 20 to said member, with said wire between said two nuts. The nut 7 might be dispensed with, in which event the wire 20 would be held between the cap 10 and the nut 8.

The jump-spark conductors 12 are arranged or rouped part way around the axis of the insu ator 2 substantially in the manner shown in Fig. 4, there being one of said conductors adjacent to the protruding lower terminal of the electrode member 5, and another located at a suflicient distance from said terminal to prevent the passage of the current therebetween, with the remaining conductors between these two. There are eleven of these conductors in the present case, but the number may be varied to any extent required. It is the end conductor 12, which is opposite to the end conductor 12 immediately adjacent to the electrode member 5, that is in operative position relative to the ground electrode 11. The conductors 12 are sufficiently close together and the end conductors 12 are within the proper distances relative to the member 5 and the electrode 11 to enable the electric current, which passes through said member, to jump from the latter to the immediately adjacent conductor, from that to the next, and so on until the conductor is reached which is immediately adjacent to said electrode, and then to jump across to said electrode. Thus a series of ump-sparks is produced, in addition to the jump-spark roduced between the members 6 and 5, wit 1 the resultthat what may be termed the ignition spark is greatly intensified and the efliciency of the engine correspondingly increased.

Each jump-spark conductor '12 is substantially triangular in cross section, and has had its upper or inner end a spherical part 18, all as clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 4. The conductors 12 are moulded in the insulator 2, the aforesaid spherical part on each serving to prevent or assisting in preventing the same from becoming detached from said insulator. Each conductor 12 projects beyond the bottom plane of the insulator 2 approximately the same distance as do the electrode member 5 and the electrode 11.

In practice, the electric current, from the battery or other source of supply of the same, electro e member'6 and down said member, jumps across the gap between said member and the electrode member 5 and asses down the latter, next jumps to t e immediately adjacent conductor 12, from that conductor to the next, and so on until the last one is reached, then jumps from the latter across to the electrode 11, and finally passes to the ground. The current in passing and sparking through and between the members on the bottom of the insulator 2 fires the charge in the engine cylinder.

The intensity of the spark between the members 5 and 6 can be readily ascertained through the passages 13, and said firstnamed member can be adjusted to regulate such spark in the manner hereinbefore explained.

When the insulator 2 is so placed in the shell 1 as to locate the jump-spark conductor 12, which is associated with the ground electrode 11, in proper position relative to said electrode, the central electrode member 5 is a sufficient distance from said ground electrode to prevent the current from bridging the gap therebetween, consequently said current must travel around through all of the conductors 12, upon-leaving said member, before it reaches the ground electrode.

Preferably the protruding, bottom part of the central electrode member 5 is triangular in cross section, like the j ump-spark conductors 12, as best shown in Fig. 4.

That more or less change in the shape, size, construction, and arrangement of the several parts and members which enter into the construction of this spark-plu especially such changes as those to whic attention has been already called, may be made asses through the wire 20 to the without departin from the spirit of my invention or exceeding the scope of what is claimed.

I am aware that divided, central electrode have been used before, and that it is not broadly new to provide a multiplicity of spark-gap-forming members at the bottom of insulators, wherefore I do not seek to claim broadly either of these features.

' What I do claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The combination, in a spark-plug, with a shell having a ground electrode at the bottom, of an insulator in said shell, central elec trode in said insulator, protruding from the bottom of the same at a point remote from the axial center thereof, and havi a triangular-bottom, and a plurality 0 jumpspark conductors moulded in said insulator, and projecting below the bottom thereof between the protruding terminal of said lower central electrode member and said ground electrode, the protruding terminals of said lower member and said jump-spark conductors bein in a circle which 1s concentric with the ottom of the insulator, and inside of said ground electrode, and the bottoms of said jump-spark conductors being triangular, and so arranged relative to each other and to said protruding terminal of said lower member that a side of one is in apposition to a side of another.

JOSEPH J. WISNIOWSKI. Witnesses:

F. A. CUTTER, A. C. FAIRBANKS. 

